cachepc-linux

Fork of AMDESE/linux with modifications for CachePC side-channel attack
git clone https://git.sinitax.com/sinitax/cachepc-linux
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bpf_devel_QA.rst (28179B)


      1=================================
      2HOWTO interact with BPF subsystem
      3=================================
      4
      5This document provides information for the BPF subsystem about various
      6workflows related to reporting bugs, submitting patches, and queueing
      7patches for stable kernels.
      8
      9For general information about submitting patches, please refer to
     10`Documentation/process/`_. This document only describes additional specifics
     11related to BPF.
     12
     13.. contents::
     14    :local:
     15    :depth: 2
     16
     17Reporting bugs
     18==============
     19
     20Q: How do I report bugs for BPF kernel code?
     21--------------------------------------------
     22A: Since all BPF kernel development as well as bpftool and iproute2 BPF
     23loader development happens through the bpf kernel mailing list,
     24please report any found issues around BPF to the following mailing
     25list:
     26
     27 bpf@vger.kernel.org
     28
     29This may also include issues related to XDP, BPF tracing, etc.
     30
     31Given netdev has a high volume of traffic, please also add the BPF
     32maintainers to Cc (from kernel ``MAINTAINERS`` file):
     33
     34* Alexei Starovoitov <ast@kernel.org>
     35* Daniel Borkmann <daniel@iogearbox.net>
     36
     37In case a buggy commit has already been identified, make sure to keep
     38the actual commit authors in Cc as well for the report. They can
     39typically be identified through the kernel's git tree.
     40
     41**Please do NOT report BPF issues to bugzilla.kernel.org since it
     42is a guarantee that the reported issue will be overlooked.**
     43
     44Submitting patches
     45==================
     46
     47Q: To which mailing list do I need to submit my BPF patches?
     48------------------------------------------------------------
     49A: Please submit your BPF patches to the bpf kernel mailing list:
     50
     51 bpf@vger.kernel.org
     52
     53In case your patch has changes in various different subsystems (e.g.
     54networking, tracing, security, etc), make sure to Cc the related kernel mailing
     55lists and maintainers from there as well, so they are able to review
     56the changes and provide their Acked-by's to the patches.
     57
     58Q: Where can I find patches currently under discussion for BPF subsystem?
     59-------------------------------------------------------------------------
     60A: All patches that are Cc'ed to netdev are queued for review under netdev
     61patchwork project:
     62
     63  https://patchwork.kernel.org/project/netdevbpf/list/
     64
     65Those patches which target BPF, are assigned to a 'bpf' delegate for
     66further processing from BPF maintainers. The current queue with
     67patches under review can be found at:
     68
     69  https://patchwork.kernel.org/project/netdevbpf/list/?delegate=121173
     70
     71Once the patches have been reviewed by the BPF community as a whole
     72and approved by the BPF maintainers, their status in patchwork will be
     73changed to 'Accepted' and the submitter will be notified by mail. This
     74means that the patches look good from a BPF perspective and have been
     75applied to one of the two BPF kernel trees.
     76
     77In case feedback from the community requires a respin of the patches,
     78their status in patchwork will be set to 'Changes Requested', and purged
     79from the current review queue. Likewise for cases where patches would
     80get rejected or are not applicable to the BPF trees (but assigned to
     81the 'bpf' delegate).
     82
     83Q: How do the changes make their way into Linux?
     84------------------------------------------------
     85A: There are two BPF kernel trees (git repositories). Once patches have
     86been accepted by the BPF maintainers, they will be applied to one
     87of the two BPF trees:
     88
     89 * https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/bpf/bpf.git/
     90 * https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/bpf/bpf-next.git/
     91
     92The bpf tree itself is for fixes only, whereas bpf-next for features,
     93cleanups or other kind of improvements ("next-like" content). This is
     94analogous to net and net-next trees for networking. Both bpf and
     95bpf-next will only have a master branch in order to simplify against
     96which branch patches should get rebased to.
     97
     98Accumulated BPF patches in the bpf tree will regularly get pulled
     99into the net kernel tree. Likewise, accumulated BPF patches accepted
    100into the bpf-next tree will make their way into net-next tree. net and
    101net-next are both run by David S. Miller. From there, they will go
    102into the kernel mainline tree run by Linus Torvalds. To read up on the
    103process of net and net-next being merged into the mainline tree, see
    104the :ref:`netdev-FAQ`
    105
    106
    107
    108Occasionally, to prevent merge conflicts, we might send pull requests
    109to other trees (e.g. tracing) with a small subset of the patches, but
    110net and net-next are always the main trees targeted for integration.
    111
    112The pull requests will contain a high-level summary of the accumulated
    113patches and can be searched on netdev kernel mailing list through the
    114following subject lines (``yyyy-mm-dd`` is the date of the pull
    115request)::
    116
    117  pull-request: bpf yyyy-mm-dd
    118  pull-request: bpf-next yyyy-mm-dd
    119
    120Q: How do I indicate which tree (bpf vs. bpf-next) my patch should be applied to?
    121---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    122
    123A: The process is the very same as described in the :ref:`netdev-FAQ`,
    124so please read up on it. The subject line must indicate whether the
    125patch is a fix or rather "next-like" content in order to let the
    126maintainers know whether it is targeted at bpf or bpf-next.
    127
    128For fixes eventually landing in bpf -> net tree, the subject must
    129look like::
    130
    131  git format-patch --subject-prefix='PATCH bpf' start..finish
    132
    133For features/improvements/etc that should eventually land in
    134bpf-next -> net-next, the subject must look like::
    135
    136  git format-patch --subject-prefix='PATCH bpf-next' start..finish
    137
    138If unsure whether the patch or patch series should go into bpf
    139or net directly, or bpf-next or net-next directly, it is not a
    140problem either if the subject line says net or net-next as target.
    141It is eventually up to the maintainers to do the delegation of
    142the patches.
    143
    144If it is clear that patches should go into bpf or bpf-next tree,
    145please make sure to rebase the patches against those trees in
    146order to reduce potential conflicts.
    147
    148In case the patch or patch series has to be reworked and sent out
    149again in a second or later revision, it is also required to add a
    150version number (``v2``, ``v3``, ...) into the subject prefix::
    151
    152  git format-patch --subject-prefix='PATCH bpf-next v2' start..finish
    153
    154When changes have been requested to the patch series, always send the
    155whole patch series again with the feedback incorporated (never send
    156individual diffs on top of the old series).
    157
    158Q: What does it mean when a patch gets applied to bpf or bpf-next tree?
    159-----------------------------------------------------------------------
    160A: It means that the patch looks good for mainline inclusion from
    161a BPF point of view.
    162
    163Be aware that this is not a final verdict that the patch will
    164automatically get accepted into net or net-next trees eventually:
    165
    166On the bpf kernel mailing list reviews can come in at any point
    167in time. If discussions around a patch conclude that they cannot
    168get included as-is, we will either apply a follow-up fix or drop
    169them from the trees entirely. Therefore, we also reserve to rebase
    170the trees when deemed necessary. After all, the purpose of the tree
    171is to:
    172
    173i) accumulate and stage BPF patches for integration into trees
    174   like net and net-next, and
    175
    176ii) run extensive BPF test suite and
    177    workloads on the patches before they make their way any further.
    178
    179Once the BPF pull request was accepted by David S. Miller, then
    180the patches end up in net or net-next tree, respectively, and
    181make their way from there further into mainline. Again, see the
    182:ref:`netdev-FAQ` for additional information e.g. on how often they are
    183merged to mainline.
    184
    185Q: How long do I need to wait for feedback on my BPF patches?
    186-------------------------------------------------------------
    187A: We try to keep the latency low. The usual time to feedback will
    188be around 2 or 3 business days. It may vary depending on the
    189complexity of changes and current patch load.
    190
    191Q: How often do you send pull requests to major kernel trees like net or net-next?
    192----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    193
    194A: Pull requests will be sent out rather often in order to not
    195accumulate too many patches in bpf or bpf-next.
    196
    197As a rule of thumb, expect pull requests for each tree regularly
    198at the end of the week. In some cases pull requests could additionally
    199come also in the middle of the week depending on the current patch
    200load or urgency.
    201
    202Q: Are patches applied to bpf-next when the merge window is open?
    203-----------------------------------------------------------------
    204A: For the time when the merge window is open, bpf-next will not be
    205processed. This is roughly analogous to net-next patch processing,
    206so feel free to read up on the :ref:`netdev-FAQ` about further details.
    207
    208During those two weeks of merge window, we might ask you to resend
    209your patch series once bpf-next is open again. Once Linus released
    210a ``v*-rc1`` after the merge window, we continue processing of bpf-next.
    211
    212For non-subscribers to kernel mailing lists, there is also a status
    213page run by David S. Miller on net-next that provides guidance:
    214
    215  http://vger.kernel.org/~davem/net-next.html
    216
    217Q: Verifier changes and test cases
    218----------------------------------
    219Q: I made a BPF verifier change, do I need to add test cases for
    220BPF kernel selftests_?
    221
    222A: If the patch has changes to the behavior of the verifier, then yes,
    223it is absolutely necessary to add test cases to the BPF kernel
    224selftests_ suite. If they are not present and we think they are
    225needed, then we might ask for them before accepting any changes.
    226
    227In particular, test_verifier.c is tracking a high number of BPF test
    228cases, including a lot of corner cases that LLVM BPF back end may
    229generate out of the restricted C code. Thus, adding test cases is
    230absolutely crucial to make sure future changes do not accidentally
    231affect prior use-cases. Thus, treat those test cases as: verifier
    232behavior that is not tracked in test_verifier.c could potentially
    233be subject to change.
    234
    235Q: samples/bpf preference vs selftests?
    236---------------------------------------
    237Q: When should I add code to ``samples/bpf/`` and when to BPF kernel
    238selftests_?
    239
    240A: In general, we prefer additions to BPF kernel selftests_ rather than
    241``samples/bpf/``. The rationale is very simple: kernel selftests are
    242regularly run by various bots to test for kernel regressions.
    243
    244The more test cases we add to BPF selftests, the better the coverage
    245and the less likely it is that those could accidentally break. It is
    246not that BPF kernel selftests cannot demo how a specific feature can
    247be used.
    248
    249That said, ``samples/bpf/`` may be a good place for people to get started,
    250so it might be advisable that simple demos of features could go into
    251``samples/bpf/``, but advanced functional and corner-case testing rather
    252into kernel selftests.
    253
    254If your sample looks like a test case, then go for BPF kernel selftests
    255instead!
    256
    257Q: When should I add code to the bpftool?
    258-----------------------------------------
    259A: The main purpose of bpftool (under tools/bpf/bpftool/) is to provide
    260a central user space tool for debugging and introspection of BPF programs
    261and maps that are active in the kernel. If UAPI changes related to BPF
    262enable for dumping additional information of programs or maps, then
    263bpftool should be extended as well to support dumping them.
    264
    265Q: When should I add code to iproute2's BPF loader?
    266---------------------------------------------------
    267A: For UAPI changes related to the XDP or tc layer (e.g. ``cls_bpf``),
    268the convention is that those control-path related changes are added to
    269iproute2's BPF loader as well from user space side. This is not only
    270useful to have UAPI changes properly designed to be usable, but also
    271to make those changes available to a wider user base of major
    272downstream distributions.
    273
    274Q: Do you accept patches as well for iproute2's BPF loader?
    275-----------------------------------------------------------
    276A: Patches for the iproute2's BPF loader have to be sent to:
    277
    278  netdev@vger.kernel.org
    279
    280While those patches are not processed by the BPF kernel maintainers,
    281please keep them in Cc as well, so they can be reviewed.
    282
    283The official git repository for iproute2 is run by Stephen Hemminger
    284and can be found at:
    285
    286  https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/shemminger/iproute2.git/
    287
    288The patches need to have a subject prefix of '``[PATCH iproute2
    289master]``' or '``[PATCH iproute2 net-next]``'. '``master``' or
    290'``net-next``' describes the target branch where the patch should be
    291applied to. Meaning, if kernel changes went into the net-next kernel
    292tree, then the related iproute2 changes need to go into the iproute2
    293net-next branch, otherwise they can be targeted at master branch. The
    294iproute2 net-next branch will get merged into the master branch after
    295the current iproute2 version from master has been released.
    296
    297Like BPF, the patches end up in patchwork under the netdev project and
    298are delegated to 'shemminger' for further processing:
    299
    300  http://patchwork.ozlabs.org/project/netdev/list/?delegate=389
    301
    302Q: What is the minimum requirement before I submit my BPF patches?
    303------------------------------------------------------------------
    304A: When submitting patches, always take the time and properly test your
    305patches *prior* to submission. Never rush them! If maintainers find
    306that your patches have not been properly tested, it is a good way to
    307get them grumpy. Testing patch submissions is a hard requirement!
    308
    309Note, fixes that go to bpf tree *must* have a ``Fixes:`` tag included.
    310The same applies to fixes that target bpf-next, where the affected
    311commit is in net-next (or in some cases bpf-next). The ``Fixes:`` tag is
    312crucial in order to identify follow-up commits and tremendously helps
    313for people having to do backporting, so it is a must have!
    314
    315We also don't accept patches with an empty commit message. Take your
    316time and properly write up a high quality commit message, it is
    317essential!
    318
    319Think about it this way: other developers looking at your code a month
    320from now need to understand *why* a certain change has been done that
    321way, and whether there have been flaws in the analysis or assumptions
    322that the original author did. Thus providing a proper rationale and
    323describing the use-case for the changes is a must.
    324
    325Patch submissions with >1 patch must have a cover letter which includes
    326a high level description of the series. This high level summary will
    327then be placed into the merge commit by the BPF maintainers such that
    328it is also accessible from the git log for future reference.
    329
    330Q: Features changing BPF JIT and/or LLVM
    331----------------------------------------
    332Q: What do I need to consider when adding a new instruction or feature
    333that would require BPF JIT and/or LLVM integration as well?
    334
    335A: We try hard to keep all BPF JITs up to date such that the same user
    336experience can be guaranteed when running BPF programs on different
    337architectures without having the program punt to the less efficient
    338interpreter in case the in-kernel BPF JIT is enabled.
    339
    340If you are unable to implement or test the required JIT changes for
    341certain architectures, please work together with the related BPF JIT
    342developers in order to get the feature implemented in a timely manner.
    343Please refer to the git log (``arch/*/net/``) to locate the necessary
    344people for helping out.
    345
    346Also always make sure to add BPF test cases (e.g. test_bpf.c and
    347test_verifier.c) for new instructions, so that they can receive
    348broad test coverage and help run-time testing the various BPF JITs.
    349
    350In case of new BPF instructions, once the changes have been accepted
    351into the Linux kernel, please implement support into LLVM's BPF back
    352end. See LLVM_ section below for further information.
    353
    354Stable submission
    355=================
    356
    357Q: I need a specific BPF commit in stable kernels. What should I do?
    358--------------------------------------------------------------------
    359A: In case you need a specific fix in stable kernels, first check whether
    360the commit has already been applied in the related ``linux-*.y`` branches:
    361
    362  https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-stable.git/
    363
    364If not the case, then drop an email to the BPF maintainers with the
    365netdev kernel mailing list in Cc and ask for the fix to be queued up:
    366
    367  netdev@vger.kernel.org
    368
    369The process in general is the same as on netdev itself, see also the
    370:ref:`netdev-FAQ`.
    371
    372Q: Do you also backport to kernels not currently maintained as stable?
    373----------------------------------------------------------------------
    374A: No. If you need a specific BPF commit in kernels that are currently not
    375maintained by the stable maintainers, then you are on your own.
    376
    377The current stable and longterm stable kernels are all listed here:
    378
    379  https://www.kernel.org/
    380
    381Q: The BPF patch I am about to submit needs to go to stable as well
    382-------------------------------------------------------------------
    383What should I do?
    384
    385A: The same rules apply as with netdev patch submissions in general, see
    386the :ref:`netdev-FAQ`.
    387
    388Never add "``Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org``" to the patch description, but
    389ask the BPF maintainers to queue the patches instead. This can be done
    390with a note, for example, under the ``---`` part of the patch which does
    391not go into the git log. Alternatively, this can be done as a simple
    392request by mail instead.
    393
    394Q: Queue stable patches
    395-----------------------
    396Q: Where do I find currently queued BPF patches that will be submitted
    397to stable?
    398
    399A: Once patches that fix critical bugs got applied into the bpf tree, they
    400are queued up for stable submission under:
    401
    402  http://patchwork.ozlabs.org/bundle/bpf/stable/?state=*
    403
    404They will be on hold there at minimum until the related commit made its
    405way into the mainline kernel tree.
    406
    407After having been under broader exposure, the queued patches will be
    408submitted by the BPF maintainers to the stable maintainers.
    409
    410Testing patches
    411===============
    412
    413Q: How to run BPF selftests
    414---------------------------
    415A: After you have booted into the newly compiled kernel, navigate to
    416the BPF selftests_ suite in order to test BPF functionality (current
    417working directory points to the root of the cloned git tree)::
    418
    419  $ cd tools/testing/selftests/bpf/
    420  $ make
    421
    422To run the verifier tests::
    423
    424  $ sudo ./test_verifier
    425
    426The verifier tests print out all the current checks being
    427performed. The summary at the end of running all tests will dump
    428information of test successes and failures::
    429
    430  Summary: 418 PASSED, 0 FAILED
    431
    432In order to run through all BPF selftests, the following command is
    433needed::
    434
    435  $ sudo make run_tests
    436
    437See the kernels selftest `Documentation/dev-tools/kselftest.rst`_
    438document for further documentation.
    439
    440To maximize the number of tests passing, the .config of the kernel
    441under test should match the config file fragment in
    442tools/testing/selftests/bpf as closely as possible.
    443
    444Finally to ensure support for latest BPF Type Format features -
    445discussed in `Documentation/bpf/btf.rst`_ - pahole version 1.16
    446is required for kernels built with CONFIG_DEBUG_INFO_BTF=y.
    447pahole is delivered in the dwarves package or can be built
    448from source at
    449
    450https://github.com/acmel/dwarves
    451
    452pahole starts to use libbpf definitions and APIs since v1.13 after the
    453commit 21507cd3e97b ("pahole: add libbpf as submodule under lib/bpf").
    454It works well with the git repository because the libbpf submodule will
    455use "git submodule update --init --recursive" to update.
    456
    457Unfortunately, the default github release source code does not contain
    458libbpf submodule source code and this will cause build issues, the tarball
    459from https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/devel/pahole/pahole.git/ is same with
    460github, you can get the source tarball with corresponding libbpf submodule
    461codes from
    462
    463https://fedorapeople.org/~acme/dwarves
    464
    465Some distros have pahole version 1.16 packaged already, e.g.
    466Fedora, Gentoo.
    467
    468Q: Which BPF kernel selftests version should I run my kernel against?
    469---------------------------------------------------------------------
    470A: If you run a kernel ``xyz``, then always run the BPF kernel selftests
    471from that kernel ``xyz`` as well. Do not expect that the BPF selftest
    472from the latest mainline tree will pass all the time.
    473
    474In particular, test_bpf.c and test_verifier.c have a large number of
    475test cases and are constantly updated with new BPF test sequences, or
    476existing ones are adapted to verifier changes e.g. due to verifier
    477becoming smarter and being able to better track certain things.
    478
    479LLVM
    480====
    481
    482Q: Where do I find LLVM with BPF support?
    483-----------------------------------------
    484A: The BPF back end for LLVM is upstream in LLVM since version 3.7.1.
    485
    486All major distributions these days ship LLVM with BPF back end enabled,
    487so for the majority of use-cases it is not required to compile LLVM by
    488hand anymore, just install the distribution provided package.
    489
    490LLVM's static compiler lists the supported targets through
    491``llc --version``, make sure BPF targets are listed. Example::
    492
    493     $ llc --version
    494     LLVM (http://llvm.org/):
    495       LLVM version 10.0.0
    496       Optimized build.
    497       Default target: x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
    498       Host CPU: skylake
    499
    500       Registered Targets:
    501         aarch64    - AArch64 (little endian)
    502         bpf        - BPF (host endian)
    503         bpfeb      - BPF (big endian)
    504         bpfel      - BPF (little endian)
    505         x86        - 32-bit X86: Pentium-Pro and above
    506         x86-64     - 64-bit X86: EM64T and AMD64
    507
    508For developers in order to utilize the latest features added to LLVM's
    509BPF back end, it is advisable to run the latest LLVM releases. Support
    510for new BPF kernel features such as additions to the BPF instruction
    511set are often developed together.
    512
    513All LLVM releases can be found at: http://releases.llvm.org/
    514
    515Q: Got it, so how do I build LLVM manually anyway?
    516--------------------------------------------------
    517A: We recommend that developers who want the fastest incremental builds
    518use the Ninja build system, you can find it in your system's package
    519manager, usually the package is ninja or ninja-build.
    520
    521You need ninja, cmake and gcc-c++ as build requisites for LLVM. Once you
    522have that set up, proceed with building the latest LLVM and clang version
    523from the git repositories::
    524
    525     $ git clone https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project.git
    526     $ mkdir -p llvm-project/llvm/build
    527     $ cd llvm-project/llvm/build
    528     $ cmake .. -G "Ninja" -DLLVM_TARGETS_TO_BUILD="BPF;X86" \
    529                -DLLVM_ENABLE_PROJECTS="clang"    \
    530                -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release        \
    531                -DLLVM_BUILD_RUNTIME=OFF
    532     $ ninja
    533
    534The built binaries can then be found in the build/bin/ directory, where
    535you can point the PATH variable to.
    536
    537Set ``-DLLVM_TARGETS_TO_BUILD`` equal to the target you wish to build, you
    538will find a full list of targets within the llvm-project/llvm/lib/Target
    539directory.
    540
    541Q: Reporting LLVM BPF issues
    542----------------------------
    543Q: Should I notify BPF kernel maintainers about issues in LLVM's BPF code
    544generation back end or about LLVM generated code that the verifier
    545refuses to accept?
    546
    547A: Yes, please do!
    548
    549LLVM's BPF back end is a key piece of the whole BPF
    550infrastructure and it ties deeply into verification of programs from the
    551kernel side. Therefore, any issues on either side need to be investigated
    552and fixed whenever necessary.
    553
    554Therefore, please make sure to bring them up at netdev kernel mailing
    555list and Cc BPF maintainers for LLVM and kernel bits:
    556
    557* Yonghong Song <yhs@fb.com>
    558* Alexei Starovoitov <ast@kernel.org>
    559* Daniel Borkmann <daniel@iogearbox.net>
    560
    561LLVM also has an issue tracker where BPF related bugs can be found:
    562
    563  https://bugs.llvm.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=bpf
    564
    565However, it is better to reach out through mailing lists with having
    566maintainers in Cc.
    567
    568Q: New BPF instruction for kernel and LLVM
    569------------------------------------------
    570Q: I have added a new BPF instruction to the kernel, how can I integrate
    571it into LLVM?
    572
    573A: LLVM has a ``-mcpu`` selector for the BPF back end in order to allow
    574the selection of BPF instruction set extensions. By default the
    575``generic`` processor target is used, which is the base instruction set
    576(v1) of BPF.
    577
    578LLVM has an option to select ``-mcpu=probe`` where it will probe the host
    579kernel for supported BPF instruction set extensions and selects the
    580optimal set automatically.
    581
    582For cross-compilation, a specific version can be select manually as well ::
    583
    584     $ llc -march bpf -mcpu=help
    585     Available CPUs for this target:
    586
    587       generic - Select the generic processor.
    588       probe   - Select the probe processor.
    589       v1      - Select the v1 processor.
    590       v2      - Select the v2 processor.
    591     [...]
    592
    593Newly added BPF instructions to the Linux kernel need to follow the same
    594scheme, bump the instruction set version and implement probing for the
    595extensions such that ``-mcpu=probe`` users can benefit from the
    596optimization transparently when upgrading their kernels.
    597
    598If you are unable to implement support for the newly added BPF instruction
    599please reach out to BPF developers for help.
    600
    601By the way, the BPF kernel selftests run with ``-mcpu=probe`` for better
    602test coverage.
    603
    604Q: clang flag for target bpf?
    605-----------------------------
    606Q: In some cases clang flag ``-target bpf`` is used but in other cases the
    607default clang target, which matches the underlying architecture, is used.
    608What is the difference and when I should use which?
    609
    610A: Although LLVM IR generation and optimization try to stay architecture
    611independent, ``-target <arch>`` still has some impact on generated code:
    612
    613- BPF program may recursively include header file(s) with file scope
    614  inline assembly codes. The default target can handle this well,
    615  while ``bpf`` target may fail if bpf backend assembler does not
    616  understand these assembly codes, which is true in most cases.
    617
    618- When compiled without ``-g``, additional elf sections, e.g.,
    619  .eh_frame and .rela.eh_frame, may be present in the object file
    620  with default target, but not with ``bpf`` target.
    621
    622- The default target may turn a C switch statement into a switch table
    623  lookup and jump operation. Since the switch table is placed
    624  in the global readonly section, the bpf program will fail to load.
    625  The bpf target does not support switch table optimization.
    626  The clang option ``-fno-jump-tables`` can be used to disable
    627  switch table generation.
    628
    629- For clang ``-target bpf``, it is guaranteed that pointer or long /
    630  unsigned long types will always have a width of 64 bit, no matter
    631  whether underlying clang binary or default target (or kernel) is
    632  32 bit. However, when native clang target is used, then it will
    633  compile these types based on the underlying architecture's conventions,
    634  meaning in case of 32 bit architecture, pointer or long / unsigned
    635  long types e.g. in BPF context structure will have width of 32 bit
    636  while the BPF LLVM back end still operates in 64 bit. The native
    637  target is mostly needed in tracing for the case of walking ``pt_regs``
    638  or other kernel structures where CPU's register width matters.
    639  Otherwise, ``clang -target bpf`` is generally recommended.
    640
    641You should use default target when:
    642
    643- Your program includes a header file, e.g., ptrace.h, which eventually
    644  pulls in some header files containing file scope host assembly codes.
    645
    646- You can add ``-fno-jump-tables`` to work around the switch table issue.
    647
    648Otherwise, you can use ``bpf`` target. Additionally, you *must* use bpf target
    649when:
    650
    651- Your program uses data structures with pointer or long / unsigned long
    652  types that interface with BPF helpers or context data structures. Access
    653  into these structures is verified by the BPF verifier and may result
    654  in verification failures if the native architecture is not aligned with
    655  the BPF architecture, e.g. 64-bit. An example of this is
    656  BPF_PROG_TYPE_SK_MSG require ``-target bpf``
    657
    658
    659.. Links
    660.. _Documentation/process/: https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/process/
    661.. _netdev-FAQ: Documentation/process/maintainer-netdev.rst
    662.. _selftests:
    663   https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/
    664.. _Documentation/dev-tools/kselftest.rst:
    665   https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/dev-tools/kselftest.html
    666.. _Documentation/bpf/btf.rst: btf.rst
    667
    668Happy BPF hacking!